Sudbury court: Decision in robbery case put off

Shane Campbell will now learn March 20 whether he will be found guilty or cleared of robbing a Hanmer blueberry vendor while allegedly armed with a hammer in July 2013.

A judgment was to have been ready from Justice John Keast this week. Instead, assistant Crown attorney Kenrick Abbott informed the court of a new judgment date of March 20.

Campbell’s trial, which was held over three days in early December, involves robbery and possession of a weapon charges laid concerning the 1:30 p.m. July 30, 2013, robbery in which the business’ “float” or cash box was taken.

The charges were laid more than two years later due to the DNA profile generated from a blue-grey striped sweatshirt found by Greater Sudbury Police officers off a Hanmer trail shortly after the robbery.

The trial heard the sweatshirt was found about five feet off the ground during a police canine track in the bush near the robbery site. The sweatshirt, which was found to be inside-out, was shown by officers to the female employee who was robbed and she indicated it matched what the male robber was wearing.

Genetic testing at the Centre of Forensic Sciences’ Northern Regional Forensic Laboratory in Sault Ste. Marie used blood found on a cuff area, as well as skin cells from inside the collar area to generate a DNA profile. Two years later, that DNA profile was matched to a sample Campbell had provided to the national DNA databank.

The trial heard that only one DNA profile was generated from testing conducted on the sweatshirt.

The odds of another random, unrelated person matching that DNA profile, testified Michael Bissonnette, a forensic scientist at the Northern Regional Laboratory via videolink, was one in 170 trillion.

In his closing submissions, defence lawyer Alex Toffoli argued the female employee could not identify Campbell as the man who robbed her, either through two photograph lineups she examined, or while seated in the prisoner’s box during the trial.

Campbell, now 33, of London, is in custody at Sudbury Jail concerning unrelated matters.

In his submissions, Abbott said the Crown had proved its case.

“Clearly, Mr. Campbell is the wearer of the shirt,” he said. “The DNA is his and nobody else’s. Is it possible somebody else had the shirt and left no DNA on that day? No “¦ The positive identification of the shirt and the linking of the shirt to the scene are sufficient to create a nexus.”